“A health promoting school is one that constantly strengthens its capacity as a healthy setting for living, learning and working.” (The World Health Organisation’s Global School Health Initiative)
In Ireland, the Health Promoting Schools Framework is underpinned by the Health Service Executive’s Strategic Framework for Health Promotion (2011) and is part of the Schools for Health in Europe Network. This strategy now comes under the title Schools for Health in Ireland.
With the HPS concept, ‘health’ refers to all aspects of health and well-being including physical, social, emotional, mental, spiritual, and cognitive health. It is a whole-school approach involving students, parents, staff and the wider community.
Ms. Galvin was the Lead Coordinator of the programme and worked closely with the Schools Health Promotion Officer to assess the health needs of our school community and to begin the process of working towards better health for all who learn and work within the school setting. This is an ongoing process, with no single end-point to the HPS programme, which helps ensure that participating schools continue to reflect on, sustain, and build on earlier work in the area of health and well-being.
Our school is due to gain public recognition as a Health Promoting School for our involvement in the scheme and for our continuing commitment to the Health Promotion process.